The third-generation Mazda CX-5 may have a more high-tech interior, but it has also received a number of measures aimed at keeping its production costs down.
Mazda chief financial officer Jeffrey Guyton detailed some of these changes to Automotive News.
The report says Mazda ‘cut significant cost (and weight) from the steel body structure by working with its supplier Nippon Steel early in development process’.
This is why it’s so much cheaper for Mazda to have an expensive steel body structure, even though the new CX-5 is larger than the outgoing model.
childcareman.xyz can save you thousands on a new car. Click
here
to get a great deal.
A CX-5 is 115mm longer and 15mm wider than the outgoing model on a 11mm long wheelbase at 4690MM, 1860mm wide and 1695m tall.
The other end of the spectrum, Mazda has changed how it wraps the leather on the new CX-5’s steering wheel.
The cut-off of Mazda is no longer a precise cut and sewing it on sway so that the stitching lines up horizontally, making buyers not value this more than the angled stitchling used by rivals. It has a reputation for its high-end interiors, but that’s what it is about the brand which makes such renowned as luxury interior.
It is a great attention to details of Mazda but when we look at it, customers are not really looking at that approach more than competitors and the way costs us more money,” Mr Guyton told the magazine.
“Our competitors have an angled appearance to the stitches but the same leather.”
The steel structure is two of the “many, many, numerous” unseen cost cuts in the new-generation mid-size SUV,” he said.
He told Automotive News ‘We put money where the customer is going to see it, and we’ve tried for big cost savings where customers don’t value it as much or won’T see that.
For Mazda, finding these savings are key to the CX-5 is its top-selling model worldwide and best-seller in the US market where it’s now being slugged with a 15 per cent tariff. Trying to maintain the same or better margins on the car as good, Mazda is trying to keep margin from the outgoing generation.
Mazda also posted a loss in the first nine months of this year’s fiscal year, though it expects to record yearly operating profit – but that is less than last financial year.
Mazda may seem to be simplifying parts of the CX-5 in order to reduce costs, but adding features to the new-generation crossover SUV.
The has a huge 15, there is. Currently in the US market at least, 6-inch infotainment screen will feature Google Built-in with embedded apps from tech giants like Google Maps and Google Assistant.
This is the first time for a CX-5 to have an entire digital instrument cluster and ‘panorroof panoramic,’ while Mazda has previously teased the availability of new active safety and driver assist features.
In a statement, Mazda says that the CX-5’s initial production of its own software system was “pushed back slightly” so it could perform extended quality verification (including its more sophisticated software systems).
Production began for Europe in December and the US in January, with output for Japan starting in April.
Mazda Australia has confirmed the new CX-5 is due here in mid-2026.
And it’s starting here with a naturally aspirated 2 carryover. A 4-cylinder engine – 5-litre four-cylinder engines now generates 132kW and 242Nm of torque, down 8kW (and 10NM) from the previous which will be fed by a six-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive.
Powered by the punchy turbocharged 2. Despite the loss of 5-litre four, Mazda has confirmed that there is an alternative to this hybrid which will be available later and will perform like the turbo – or even better.
While timing has not been confirmed, the hybrid CX-5 has remained in lock-in for the growing hybrid-hungry Australian market. In 2027, it’s coming to the US for launch of in its first year.
Though its sales of the Toyota RAV4 have overtaken it, the CX-5 is one of three best-selling cars in its segment for 13 years.
Not only a new-generation RAV4 but also in-house competition like the CX-60, which is cheaper than ever since it has introduced ‘the price-leader naturally aspirated 2’. 5-litre four-cylinder powertrain.
MORE:
Explore the Mazda CX-5 showroom
Thanks for reading 2026 Mazda CX-5 receives raft of cost-cutting measures
